Two Men in Dirty Trenchcoats
by journeynotintothewildwoods
Summary: (Set post-Clip Show/pre-Great Escapist for SPN, post-library fire/Roberto's shooting for Monster) Two men on the run- hiding their faces with upturned collars- meet in a pub in Munich, Germany and talk about the loss of innocence and idealism, the true cost of fixing mistakes, and the value of human life.


(the former) Doctor Kenzo Tenma sat at the bar, forcing himself to take a sip from a cup of coffee that the bartender had insisted he drink. A picked-at plate of now-cold food sat before him, just as untouched as his coffee. He knew he had to keep his strength up, but chasing Johan and the thought of what he would have to do once he found him kept his stomach churning day and night. It was the only thing on his mind these days: _Where is the next lead? What am I going to do once I find him? Can I do what needs to be done? Is Nina—_

Nina. He sighed. She had vanished from the hospital and was once again lost in the wind. Was she okay? Had she tracked down Johan herself?

"I can't afford to let myself worry about her." He muttered to himself, forcing down another sip of coffee. If she had left the hospital, she must have been well enough to take care of herself. He had to focus on stopping Johan before Nina did something horrible to her brother.

The door chimed, another customer walking in and sitting next to him at the bar. Tenma shifted in his seat, pulling up the collar of his trench coat and turning away from the man as much as he could.

The other man sat in silence, not even bothering a glance at Tenma. He was looking around, seeming just as nervous as Tenma. The man ordered- just a coffee, no food- no matter how much the bartender insisted it was on the house.

"Look, you look about in the same state that guy does." The bartender pointed to Tenma. "I'll be damned if I let either of you go without some sort of food. Won't have that in my shop."

"Sir, I said I would just like the cup of coffee." The man sighed and rubbed his brow. The bartender set the cup on the bar. "Thank you." He took a gulp from it as if he hadn't had anything to drink in years. The bartender muttered something about 'starving idiots' and walked back into the kitchen.

Then the man turned to Tenma, all furrowed brow and piercing blue eyes. Studying what little he could see of Tenma's face. "You're Japanese, aren't you?"

"Why do you ask?" Tenma put a hand up, pretending to scratch his forehead.

"Well, it's just odd to see someone of non-European decent in Munich in these times." The man spoke perfect German- but with a slight accent. Tenma couldn't place it though. He was quiet as he stalled, trying to come up with an answer, but the man kept speaking. "You have a very 'cool' coat." He motioned to the dirty trenchcoat that Tenma wore- it was one of the few things that Tenma had left (though even this was something that he had stolen- another mark against his innocence). The man motioned to his own coat. "I have one too. Oh! My name is Cas. You are…?"

"Yes, um. Thank you, yours is nice as well…" Tenma moved to stand up, make a seat at the booth instead- _anything_ to keep this man from realizing he was the fugitive that was all over the news. But the other man touched his arm.

"Are you leaving? You should eat something."

Tenma faked a smile and a laugh. "I'm fine, I was full before I came in."

The bartender yelled from the back. "Don't let him fool you, he was half-dead when I dragged him in here! He nearly fainted in my doorway. He's lucky that he was near my shop and not some scumbag's!"

The other man- Cas- gripped tighter. "You should eat something. You don't look well at all."

Tenma sighed and sat down. He began taking small bites of his sandwich while Cas stared at him intently. Did he _know _who Tenma was?

"You fainted? Do you have any health problems?"

Tenma laughed softly and turned to face the man for the first time since their conversation began- the man had slightly greasy, shaggy hair, an unkempt suit and a light stubble. It reminded Tenma of himself early on in his chase—when he has first met Nina. When he was actually ashamed of how filthy he was, and was actually embarrassed by the 'smelly hobo' comments.

Now it was just a way of life for him. He washed up when he could, but for now he was in survival mode— The man was staring at him again.

"Sir?" Cas dragged Tenma out of his memories. It was amazing- this man seemed to have the same amount of concern for Tenma that Tenma normally had for others. It was a nice change of pace. He let himself relax a bit. "No. I just haven't had a chance to catch a break from a while. I got caught up in memories, I'm sorry."

Cas furrowed his brow again, staring as if he was trying to pinpoint the man. Tenma tensed up again, cursing himself for ever letting his guard down and showing the stranger his face. "You seem like you're running from something."

"Why—why do you say that?"

Cas looked down at the table, taking another sip from his coffee. "I am also on the run. I can see the look in your eyes, the same in mine."

"I'm not on the run, I'm sorry. You must be mistaken." Tenma began to walk out the door, hoping that he wouldn't get himself caught up in another underground neo-nazi ring or something of that sort again. Best to stay away from the other fugitives…

Cas kept his eyes glued to the coffee cup, talking over his shoulder. "I thought I was doing the right thing. Do you know how that feels? You think… that you're fixing things. But everything keeps spiraling out of control."

Tenma gulped, thinking back to the night that he first met Johan as a adult. "_You saved me, Doctor. You're like a father to me." _The memories stopped him in his tracks. He gripped the doorframe again.

Cas kept speaking. "I thought that I was doing what was right, that everyone else was wrong- but in the end I chose the wrong path. But how could I have known?" He trailed off.

Tenma took a deep breath, sitting himself down next to Cas, shaking his head and smiling."Yes. Sometimes, we don't know the right path. But we have to do what we can to fix things. Even the if outcome might be unpleasant."

Cas smiled at him. "Yes. I suppose we have to fix our mistakes. Even if we have to make sacrifices. There's a pair of brothers— friends of mine, trying to keep me from doing what I need to. They don't want me to get hurt. They want to help. But, they don't understand that I _need _to finish this myself. I can't let them help me."

Tenma thought back to Dr. Reichwein, Dr. Gullen, Deiter, and Nina. The ones brought together by the shared disaster in their lives, the ones trying to keep him from becoming yet another casualty in the war they were all waging against Johan. "Yes, people don't always understand that they're putting themselves in danger."

"And we aren't?" Cas smirked.

"Yes, we are. But that doesn't mean that they need to sacrifice themselves as well."

"We do whatever we need to do in order to correct our mistakes, no matter the cost to ourselves, right?"

Tenma shifted in his seat again, the conversation was moving in directions he didn't want to go. "I'm sorry, what did you say you're trying to do again?"

Cas smirked. "My family was in chaos, and I tried to fix things— I didn't realize what consequences my actions would have in the long run and now things seem to be even more broken then before." Tenma decided not to dig any deeper than that. Cas stared at the ring at the bottom of his coffee cup- the same stare Tenma had caught himself with all the time now. The face of someone who was ost in horrible memories. "But, I'm going to fix things, no matter the cost- if there is a bit of bloodshed involved, then so be it if it puts and end to things, correct?" He stared at Tenma. "What about you?"


End file.
